Should your buyer’s agent be based at the area you will be buying from?

Buyer's agent Simon Pressley, from Propertyology,  believes that a professional’s knowledge and skills should speak louder than his location.

In fact, according to him, some of the most successful companies that offer buyer’s agents’ services often have markets all across Australia—from capital cities to regional locations.

He said: “[Propertyology is] living proof of that you don't need to have an office set up in that location, but you do need to have lots of checks and balances in place to investigate and get really comfortable with the various due diligence that you need to do on any property.”

“In our case, the most important decision is the town or city … [and] you don't get that information from driving around the town or city … [but] from understanding things to do with the supply and the demand side,” the buyer’s agent added.

 Looking for good locations

Instead of having buyer’s agents based in every suburb in Australia, Simon and his team in Propertyology take time to fly in a particular location they plan to invest in and stay there for a week to assess its suitability for property investment.

Simon shared: “We meet face-to-face with mayors, town planners, economic development managers, key employers, [and] we study zoning, we study flooding, we study where the undesirables hang around, and we literally drive down every street.”

While they have not seen every single house in a city, when they go to contract on a particular property, they always do what it takes to ensure that its good condition as well as its potential for wealth-creation.

According to him: “There are certain things that we do to check its structural integrity, to check [that] it's low maintenance, [and] to check that the room sizes are adequate.”

“The principles we follow as a business are what I do myself for my own portfolio, so tried and tested,” he added.

At the end of the day, a good buyer’s agent need not be in a particular location to know the “ground truth”. Like all members of your financial team, your buyer’s agent must work hard align their research based on your specific goals, capabilities, and limitations as a property investor in order to help you make the best decisions.

Smart Property Investment Show podcast host, Phil Tarrant, said don't get too caught up in the fact that someone needs to have a physical presence in the town or the city that you're buying.

“You're investing in the process, the knowledge, the capabilities, the researched potential of the buyer's agent, and their ability to identify and also negotiate these properties as well.

“If you can get beyond that mindset of thinking that they need to be located there, I think you'll be opening your mind and you'll be able to have better conversations with potential buyer's agents." 

Tune in to Simon Pressley’s Q&A episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about how to pick the right buyer’s agent to suit your own needs, how to balance your time effectively as an investor, and how confident you should be when using a buyer’s agent from another state.